Sanctuary and Safe Harbour
by thinkwinkink
Summary: A continuation of the amazing "Sanctuary" fic by Tiresias. A few additional scenes set after Bucky returns to Lily. Can be read as a standalone piece.


_A/N: This is a fanfic of another fanfic (metafanfic?), Sanctuary by Tiresias on AO3, which is honestly one of the best stories ever written. Not-MCU characters belong to that universe and are not my creation._

I blew out an agitated sigh. I needed to study for this test. I had to, but I didn't want to. I had been looking over the last few weeks' material for two hours now, and quite frankly, I could probably get a decent mark with minimal effort. But this class was on my path back to a functional existence, and I wanted stellar marks.

Last week's study had gone off without a hitch. Probably because my house had been void of a second occupant to distract me. Now, a certain someone was back, and just knowing he was nearby made me antsy to be near him. But if I sought him out, it would hardly be the end of that. Since he came back last night, and told me he loved me, then _showed_ me he loved me, I've had a really hard time focusing on something as dry as the details of the muscle groups of the torso.

 _Maybe it was time for a more practical approach_ , I thought to myself wryly. I left my wads of handouts and piles of notes and summaries strewn across the desk in my bedroom and pushed out of my chair.

Bucky had very considerately left me alone after breakfast when I mentioned I was meant to be revising, so I guessed he'd be reading or watching TV in the living room. Just as I reached the bottom of the stairs, he strolled into the kitchen with a smirk on his face.

"Bored of studying already?" he grinned, leaning against the doorway.

I made a face. "I'm probably in good shape to do well. I'm a very dedicated student, I'll have you know," I huffed as I started pulling out the necessary items to make a sandwich.

"Uh-huh," he hummed with heavy sarcasm.

I spun around with an overly-innocent look on my face. When I grinned at him, he looked a little apprehensive, but the amusement dancing around his eyes didn't fade.

"Actually, you can help me out with something, if you're so concerned with my marks," I suggested as I strolled towards him.

"What's that?"

I leant against the wall next to him and batted my eyelashes up at him, making him chuckle. "We're meant to know all the muscle groups in the torso, and I'm having a little trouble with some of them. Maybe it would help if someone with defined muscles..." I trailed off.

Bucky played dumb. "Explained it?" he suggested.

"It would be good to have a look. Reckon you could get Steve to send me a photo of his back?" I asked as I pushed off the wall and made to walk away from him.

He caught my arm and pulled me back so that I stumbled into his chest as he stepped forward. "Since you asked so nicely, I could show you," he murmured, eyes roaming over my face hungrily.

My heart pounded but I refused to take notice, like I didn't notice the desire spelt out across Bucky's face or the way his voice made me want to shiver and press closer.

"Oh really? You already have a picture?" I teased a little breathlessly.

He let out a huff of a laugh, but couldn't seem to look away from my mouth. A heartbeat passed, then he surged forward and pressed his lips to mine. His kiss was searing, lustful and demanding, and I returned it with everything I had. The slide of his tongue over mine elicited a moan from me as my arms clamped around his neck in an attempt to get closer.

His large hands slid down my sides to my waist, and I did shiver. He hoisted me up and I wrapped my legs around him like yesterday, though he held me up a little higher so that I was taller than him. I was happy to kiss him from a new angle, until he broke away to trail hot kisses over my jaw and down my neck.

"God, I love you so much," he wrenched out against my throat.

I probably made some pretty intense moaning noises, but I could barely think it felt so good. One of my hands tangled in his hair and the other clutched at his shoulder. One of his was at my back, while the other, the human one, slowly slid up my thigh until he reached my arse, squeezing. I must have tightened my hold on him because he made an approving, agreeing sort of noise and groped at me again.

We were both panting but he came back up to kiss me again, thank God. I could feel Bucky walking, but had no idea where he was taking us, hell at this point I couldn't have told you which way was up, until I felt the wall at my back as he pressed me against it. Some small part of me wondered if it was a bad idea for someone as strong as Bucky to be involved in a passionate rendezvous against flimsy interior walls that he had easily destroyed before on more than one occasion. Whatever. I wasn't about to complain, and it was probably worth it even if we did damage the wall. Again.

He held me a little lower against the wall, so that our hips were level. I could feel him hard against me, and rolled against him tentatively. He growled and leant onto me more fully, so that I could feel his toned chest and narrow hips shift and tense with every movement, every breath. He rocked his hips into me, and I gasped. He started up a slow rhythm of push and retreat, kissing me so deeply that my head was spinning.

I pulled away and kissed down his throat, whispering that I loved him as I went. He moaned my name and started pushing harder, rubbing against me with more impatience. It was almost too much to process and I might have gone a little too far, biting down on the side of his throat. Before I could feel mortified though, he just gasped my name and sped up, his hands roving all over me. With a parting kiss to his much-abused neck (oops), I went back to his addictively passionate lips. One of my hands slid up under his shirt, trailing over his gorgeous muscles that I was only now kind of realising I hadn't managed to ogle yet today, which was a bit uncool, but I'd probably get around to that later.

An incredibly unwelcome ringing interrupted our little world. We both froze, pulling back to look at each other. I was blushing and probably pouting despite myself, and Bucky looked somewhere between annoyed at being interrupted and disgusted that someone would have the audacity to call me while we were grinding against the kitchen wall.

"I should answer that," I said regretfully.

To my surprise, he didn't set me down. Rather, he just walked over and sat me on the counter next to my phone, taking up a more relaxed stance between my knees with his arms loosely around my waist.

I looked at the screen. Laura. With a deep breath to steady myself, refusing to look at a very tousled Bucky, I answered.

"Hey Laura," I greeted, trying to sound chipper rather than husky as was my inclination at that particular moment. I steadfastly stared out the window over Bucky's shoulder.

"Hi Lily," she replied, not sounding suspicious, thankfully. "I was calling to check that you're still coming over tonight."

Crap. I'd agreed to have dinner over there tonight, before Bucky reappeared. I paused, and probably would have answered relatively calmly had not the man in question leant forward and started sucking on the side of my throat at that exact moment.

I let out a gasp that Laura apparently didn't interpret as erotic, thank God.

"You said you would! Don't tell me you forgot," she demanded.

I tilted back at the waist until my head touched the cabinets, trying to escape Bucky's ministrations long enough to think up an appropriate reply.

"I didn't forget," I insisted, even though I totally forgot. "I was just kind of-"

I cut off as a hand slid under the back of my shirt, coming around to rest against my ribcage.

"Lily? Kind of what?"

I was trembling as he tipped me forward again and ghosted his lips along my jaw on the side not obstructed by the phone. The phone!

"Lily? What's wrong? If you're pretending to have a bad connection you should know I can hear you breathing," Laura's voice was very unimpressed.

"Right, yeah, no, I'm still here," I managed to respond, but I could hear my voice was shaking. Bucky's achingly gentle touches had travelled down my neck and he was slowly making his way along my collar bone, nudging my shirt out of the way. I didn't want to encourage him but my free hand gripped onto his hair of its own volition.

"I was just trying to say that I was in the middle of something when you rang," I rushed out as the thumb pressed to my side started smoothing back and forth over my skin. "Look, I'm coming, but can I call you back in a bit?"

"Okay, but are you sure you're okay? You sound kind of-"

"Yes I'm fine just trying to finish something, I have to go, talk to you later, bye," I blurted before hanging up.

As soon as I set the phone down on the bench Bucky's mouth came up to claim my own. I had stuff to say but I couldn't bear to be talking right now when my mouth had far more important business to attend to.

Apparently swapping back to the slow-and-steady approach, he pulled away from me, taking the hand braced on his shoulder, kissing my palm, then moving up to my wrist with soft kisses.

"Bucky," I sighed. He hummed in wordless response.

I pulled more focus together and tried again. "Bucky, did you hear Laura?" I forced out, breathy and a little needy but coherent.

An affirmative hum that made my skin buzz.

"I'm meant to go there for dinner tonight."

A humming kiss at my elbow that made me shudder.

"Do you want to come? Can I tell her you're back?"

He reached the end of my exposed skin where it disappeared under my sleeve, and straightened to brush his lips against mine. He paused thoughtfully, then answered, "Okay."

I pressed a kiss to the side of his mouth, though he twisted his head to try and catch me. I giggled quietly. "I should call her back and tell her," I said.

He growled quietly. "Fine," he agreed.

"Can you behave for two minutes?" I laughed.

He pulled me into a hug and tucked his face into my neck. "Fine," he grumbled.

As I called her back I ran my fingers through his hair gently, hoping he'd stay put and not embarrass me, or rather encourage me to embarrass myself. Once you told someone you had someone with you, they interpreted things like possibly-erotic sighs and heavy breathing very differently than when they assumed you were alone. Especially when they knew you were in love with that someone. I hoped she wouldn't bring up what I had been in the middle of a couple of minutes ago, but I felt it was almost guaranteed. Oh bother.

She answered almost straight away. "Hello."

"Hey, sorry, I'm back," I said sheepishly.

"What were you doing, anyway?" she asked.

Drat. "Oh, I was just in the middle of a, um, heated discussion. I guess," I hedged.

"Oh, with who?" she asked.

I blushed and hoped she wouldn't make a big deal because there was no way Bucky wasn't going to hear every word. "Bucky. He came back last night."

Silence.

"Bucky? He came back? Last night? Why didn't you tell me? Oh my God! Is he with you right now?" she fired off questions in quick succession.

"Yeah, he's here," I answered.

Bucky lifted his head to speak closer to the microphone. "Hi, Laura," he greeted, sneaked a brief kiss, and snuggled back into his earlier position.

"Uh, hi," she replied, off-balance.

"I was going to tell you today," I said like I'd thought that far ahead.

"Mm hmm." She knew me well enough to suspect I was exaggerating on that one.

"So is it alright if I bring him with me?" I asked.

"Yeah, of course."

"Awesome. So I guess we'll see you tonight," I said in a clear bid to end this conversation before someone did something to make this way more awkward than it needed to be.

"What? Are you serious? Come on Lily, you have to give me more than that!" she protested.

"We can talk about it tonight. Six o'clock, yeah?" I placated.

"Ugh, fine. See you then," she griped.

Before she could hang up, I piped up. "Oh yeah, just before I go, I just want to tell you in advance so I don't surprise you... But, um, Bucky and I, um," I paused, looking for an adequate way to describe our new relationship.

I felt Bucky's face pull into a smile against my neck, and he nudged me slightly. I smiled too. "We're _together_ now, I guess. Anyway, bye," I laughed.

"Lily!" she screeched, but with another laugh, I hung up.

Bucky laughed with me, picking me up and spinning me around.

There was a beat of happy silence while we just looked at each other, then I spoke up.

"So, can I actually take a look at your back? I wasn't completely joking before."

He chuckled again and set me down. "Sure. After lunch?" he offered.

I beamed up at him. "Perfect. Do you want something to eat?" I asked, turning back to the beginnings of my meal.

"Sure, I'll have whatever you're going to have," he agreed easily, grabbing plates out of the cupboard.

I opened the fridge to put away the cheese and frowned. "Shoot, I forgot, I was going to go shopping today. You up for a little outing this afternoon?"

Bucky crossed his arms, eyeing me from where he leant against the benchtop. "I can do it while you work," he suggested.

"Thanks, but I'm not that pressed for time. We can both go," I said as I cut the sandwiches into triangles. Sandwiches taste better in triangle form. It's science – possibly something to do with the surface area to volume ratio? Whatever. Rectangles suck.

"You don't have to come," he pressed.

I handed him his sandwiches (I made him an extra one, okay?) with an unimpressed expression. I love him and I'd do anything to keep him happy and feeling like we're both safe, but I have to draw the line at restrictions of personal liberties when there was no discernible threat. "I've been doing the shopping for a month without any trouble. It's okay, Bucky," I said earnestly.

He held my gaze for a moment, then took a deep breath and nodded. I smiled up at him, and he smiled back. Look at us, both being reasonable about things.

 **I I I**

I brought down a few diagrams, my exercise book, and my laptop to the lounge room after lunch and set up at the coffee table. Bucky looked up from where he was sprawled out on one of the couches, reading a fantasy novel I'd suggested this morning. He closed the book with a finger keeping his page and sat up.

"Where do you want me?" he asked.

I shuffled a little where I sat on the floor next to the table, trying to decide while studiously ignoring the double entendre. "Um, are you okay sitting on the floor? Right in front of me would be good," I suggested. That way I could see my notes and my specimen well enough.

Bucky shrugged agreeably and fluidly folded himself onto the carpet a foot in front of me, facing the other way. Placing the book open, face down on his leg, he pulled off his t-shirt and dropped it in his lap. He picked up the book and started reading.

Well. I bet no-one else in my class had a live model as good as mine. He sat up straight but relaxed, the muscles still clearly defined. You wouldn't think looking at someone's back would be all that exciting, but Bucky's was pretty nice, I had to say.

I picked up the most basic diagram and tried to match it to what I had in front of me. One finger followed the outline on the drawing, and I traced the corresponding little indentation on Bucky's impressive musculature. I felt him shiver slightly at my touch, and I halted my progress.

"I hope you're not ticklish," I said, but I was really asking if this was okay.

He snorted. "Not very," he responded, and left it at that. He turned the page.

I took that as permission to continue. My fingers followed the little crests and valleys of his smooth skin, mostly without incident. When I ran a feather light caress down his spine though, he twitched a little and straightened farther. I laughed quietly and pressed a kiss to his shoulder before shuffling around for a run-down of arm movement.

"Hmm, can you lift your arm above your head?" I asked.

Bucky complied without comment, holding his human arm vertical. I brushed another kiss against the border between flesh and metal to fend off any troubled musings over arms.

With another thoughtful hum I grasped his forearm and guided it up and down, back and forth, watching what moved, feeling around with my free hand. I took notes and annotated handouts to help remember what I was learning, and also because it made it feel a little less gratuitous.

We continued in this fashion for another half an hour or so, me asking him to bend and twist this way and that and him silently doing as I asked. I was pretty sure I had everything down for the test but was considering taking a look at the neck just for fun when I realised something. I hadn't heard him turn another page this whole time. I leant forward until my head was over his shoulder. Yep, the book was still open in his lap. We turned to face each other at the same time. I probably looked confused and he had an eyebrow raised at me, as if to say _'can I help you?'_

"Are you actually reading that?" I asked.

He let it flop closed and placed it on the table beside us without breaking eye contact. "Are you finished studying?" he asked with a mostly-supressed smile.

"For now, I guess. It's surprisingly helpful to actually see the theory in practice, I always think," I remarked.

"Good," he grinned, twisting a bit to grab me and pull me around to sit across his lap. A hand slid into my hair and tilted my face up to meet his. He kissed me deeply, lovingly, and I melted into him as my arms snaked up over his shoulders. Oh, yeah, still not wearing a shirt. Fantastic. I trailed my fingers down his chest and he shuddered, his own hand dancing up my back. He pressed soft kisses along my jawline, admitting against my skin, "I couldn't focus on the book; you're too distracting. I must have read the same page seven times before I gave up."

I snuggled in closer, which happened to mean I could see my wrist over his shoulder. More specifically, my watch. Which read nearly three thirty. "Oh my gosh, it's already so late, we're cutting it a bit fine if we don't go shopping now," I exclaimed.

Bucky groaned dramatically in protest, making me giggle, but let me disentangle myself. I gave him a parting kiss before sliding off him, and he chased my lips and watched me with a slightly dreamy expression as I stood up.

"Come on. I'm probably not going to say this often, but put your shirt back on. We have to go," I laughed. He smiled ruefully and stood, snagging his shirt and pecking me on the cheek all in one smooth movement.

I went to the door and grabbed a jacket, and shoes, leaning against the wall the tug them on. While I was vulnerable I received a number of similar pecks. I must say that I'm looking forward to being able to use my leg properly again, because it's hard to dodge and evade when you're still nursing an injury. At least my other wounds don't bother me anymore so I could twist away and laugh as much as I wanted. It took another ten minutes for us to actually get out the door.

 **I I I**

With Hydra almost completely wiped out, at least any of those bastards around here gone, we were in considerably less danger. I think. I'm no expert, but if Bucky was allowing us to walk around in broad daylight with only minimal complaining and no visible weaponry, then I was pretty confident we'd be fine.

He was still vigilant, don't get me wrong. But more like a presidential bodyguard on a regular day than vengeful super-soldier ready to decimate the area to secure our survival. So that was nice.

He scanned our surroundings, checking rooftops for snipers and who knows what else as we crossed the parking lot. I walked calmly beside him, within arm's reach but not close enough to crowd him, happy to let him set the pace. I was pretty confident we weren't going to be attacked, but after all that had happened it was reassuring to have him there, ready to step in if things got interesting.

We entered, got a trolley and started working our way down the aisles without incident. Bucky seemed to relax a little more, making random observations and adding a few things that he wanted to try. I was laughing as he waxed poetic over pickles when a voice from the other end of the aisle made us spin around.

"Lily, is that you?"

I jumped a little in surprise at having the intrusion on our discussion, turning automatically to respond to my name. Bucky's response was a little less benign, though thankfully quite understated, all things considered. He whirled and came to be half in front of me, slightly bent forward and ready to leap into any action required, a hand going to his pocket where I'd bet my house that he had some kind of small but deadly weapon hidden. He didn't grab anyone, pull a knife, or growl. Overall, pretty darn restrained.

The woman who had called out to me, though, looked taken aback and a little frightened. Understandable when a big, scary guy is glaring like he's deciding whether or not to kill you. I mean, I couldn't see his face, but from behind he looked like he would be frowning up a storm.

I stepped sideways so we could see each other more fully, a wide smile stretching my face. I placed a calming hand on Bucky's arm, not looking at him as I spoke in the hopes of shifting her focus to me. "She's a family friend, it's okay," I murmured.

"Darlene," I said much louder, waving her closer. She threw Bucky a hesitant, slightly confused look, but approached us anyway. "How are you?" I continued warmly. Out of the corner of my eye I could see Bucky was standing much more casually, and possibly smiling gently at the short woman placing her shopping basket on the ground to pull me into a tight hug.

It was a heady thing to be squeezed in her embrace. She had been my mother's best friend since they were teenagers, and she had been a fixture in my life for as long as I could remember. I hadn't seen her since the funeral, and it was for the best. I was so much stronger, so much better now than I had been in a long time, and it was still hard not to be overcome. Darlene was short, only coming up to my shoulder, and plump, with pale blonde hair mixed in with grey, and she always wore bright lipstick and impressive eyeshadow. With her round, pale face and her artfully waved bob, she looked nothing like my Mom, really. But she held me tight just the same way, and her perfume was so much like hers.

Darlene gently pulled back after a while, smiling up at me and patting my cheek as I sniffled a little. "I'm good, dear. And I think you must be excellent at the moment, Lily. You look positively radiant, darling, and who's this?" she prompted with a suggestive smile and waggle of her eyebrows. She was always a bit of a wildcard, and not totally against embarrassing me. I thanked my lucky stars this wasn't happening before Bucky and I had revealed our feelings, because Darlene would have definitely tried to have a go for me.

"Bucky, ma'am," he spoke up, flashing his charming smile and tipping his head like a gentleman. Oh my god, date a guy from the 40s. Or don't, actually, it's probably a lot creepier most of the time since so few of them spent the intervening years in a freezer and were actually like a hundred. Ew. "A pleasure to meet you, Darlene."

"And you, Bucky," she responded, eyes twinkling up at him mischievously. Really, up. He was a head taller than me, and I was a head taller than her, so it was kind of funny to see them standing near each other. I hoped she wouldn't hurt her neck.

"Are you the lucky man to have swept Lily off her feet then? I know something has changed for the better in you, dear," she grinned as she looked between us. I blushed and wondered whether I was imagining the innuendo at the end there, but I doubted it. She had no shame when she was bent on embarrassing me.

Bucky, however, seemed to take the teasing much better than I did. He gave a little shrug as he reached over to put his arm around my waist. "I'm certainly trying my best," he smiled innocently, pulling me off kilter so that I toppled with a little shriek into his arms. He caught me and pressed a kiss to my cheek, all without breaking eye contact with Darlene.

"Bucky!" I hissed, smacking him in the chest. He chuckled and set me upright, but kept me tucked into his side while I crossed my arms and pouted.

She laughed delightedly and actually clapped a little. "Well, you're certainly doing a good job. And with looks like that it's hard to imagine otherwise!" she said, picking up her basket. "I was good seeing you, Lily, and lovely to meet your boyfriend, but I have so much to do today, I have to run. But it's Ruby's birthday next week, and you should definitely come. All the kids will be there; I'll send an invitation to the house. And make sure you bring him-" here she gestured at Bucky- "it'll be nice to have some extra eye candy around, Daniel's grown the most awful beard. Ta ta!"

And with that, she was off. We both watched, bemused, as she bounced down the aisle and out of view.

"Is she always like that?" he asked, frowning and smirking at the same time, like he couldn't puzzle her out but he liked her anyway.

"Yeah," I sighed. Darlene usually got that response from people. She was lovable in her antics.

"Huh. Who's Ruby?" he asked as we started walking again.

"One of her grandchildren. Derek, Allie and Shona are her kids. Ruby is Allie's daughter, she's going to be five," I explained distractedly as a grabbed a jar of tomato paste. We turned and started on the next aisle.

"And who's Daniel?" he queried as he tossed a bag of marshmallows into the trolley.

"Daniel is Shona's husband. He's great but he's having a bit of a mid-life crisis. They had a baby last year and he doesn't want to feel like an uncool dad or something. He got dreadlocks a few months ago, and if you've never seen a redhead with dreadlocks, let me tell you: you don't want to," I shuddered. They really had been awful.

Bucky hummed thoughtfully. It was probably more information than he needed or wanted, but he looked interested so whatever.

"Okay, I think that's everything. Anything else you wanted?" I asked. He shook his head and we started towards the registers. A moment later I stopped.

"Oh, um, there is something else we might need," I said slowly.

Bucky nodded without much expression, until he noticed I was starting to blush. He cocked his head curiously.

I looked at my fingers where they rested on the trolley and cleared my throat awkwardly. "I don't know if you want to, but, uh, maybe we should buy, like, protection? I'm not saying we have to use it– well, we do, if we need it. Obviously. I just meant I don't want to pressure you, or imply that I'm not happy with the way things are. You know? God, I should have asked about this before we were standing in the middle of the shop," I rambled, trying to be discreet.

It wasn't that I was ashamed of wanting to be physically close with the man I loved, but I was pretty sure discussions over intimacy and boundaries were ideally held somewhere a little more private. Could've been worse, though, since Darlene was nowhere to be seen. For now.

He just squinted at me, trying to sort out my borderline nonsensical string of statements, for several seconds. Eventually, a light came on behind his eyes. "Hmm, you're not talking about weaponry, are you?" he smiled seductively. "Good idea. We're _definitely_ going to need it."

I flushed harder as we headed for the right aisle. His voice was low and smooth, his eyes darkened by desire, and that made my face heat up, as did knowing the scene we were potentially providing should anyone happen to be looking at us.

We managed to check out mostly without issue (there is no point feeling awkward about what you're buying, I've worked in retail and employees do not care), with only brief argument over paying. I went to swipe my card, Bucky wanted to pay. The girl behind the counter did look amused as we argued in whispers, but I let him pay in the end. Apparently, he enjoys the idea of using cash he personally stole from Hydra to buy stuff that would make us, whom they had personally tried to kill, happy.

Fair enough, I say.

 **I I I**

I threw a smile up at Bucky as I pressed the doorbell. I could tell he was tense, almost as though every supressed fidget wound his muscles tighter. I supposed I could see where he was coming from. Even though he and Charlie got along pretty smoothly, he and Laura had shared a tense relationship before he'd left, which could go either way from here.

Either, she would be happy that everything had worked out, my feelings were reciprocated, and the agonising mutual pining was over. Or. Or she'd be even more suspicious and unhappy about the situation if she felt like he was just going to hurt me. I really hoped she'd go the other way.

Even if we all let bygones be bygones and made four-way friendship bracelets, he was going to be stuck in a drawn out social situation. Not his ideal way to spend an evening, I imagined. He still had a lot of stuff to work through. I silently promised myself I'd do my best to make things easier on him, and watch to see if we needed to leave. I didn't think he'd be down with leaving me here and waiting for me back at the house.

The door swung open suddenly to reveal Laura with Jackson in her arms.

"Look, Jackson! It's your Auntie Lily, and she's got Bucky with her! Do you remember Bucky?" Laura directed her opening remarks to her son brightly, then sighed dramatically when he just stared up at her.

"Kids these days," I tutted, making her roll her eyes in faux-agreement and Bucky huff quietly in amusement.

"Oh, come in, come in!" she urged, as though suddenly realising it was cold outside. "You both look nice."

I raised an eyebrow. I'd gone with black jeans and a nice shirt with heels, to show I cared enough to make some effort, but it was nothing special. Bucky always looked inconsiderately attractive, but with his hair pushed back a little and the tie, he looked neat-casual-nice rather than incognito-streetwear-nice or leather-clad-assassin-nice, so I supposed she had a point there.

"Do you want to hold him for a while? I promise you can give him straight back if he starts causing any trouble," Laura offered ruefully, noticing how Bucky had been smiling at the little boy.

"Thanks," he nodded, gently taking the little bundle into his arms. "Where's Charlie?"

"Oh, he's making salad in the kitchen. Feel free to go through and say hi, it's just through there," she said, indicating the archway that led to the dining room.

Bucky nodded, throwing me a _look_ as he walked away. It was an amused sort of look, and had a _'good luck, pal'_ kind of vibe to it.

A little confused, I turned back to Laura who was giving me a _look_ of her own. This look, however, had a distinctly different feel to it. More along the lines of _'I'm your best friend and I'm going to pry every last detail out of you, like it or not!'_

I sighed, and she gestured to the door. We slipped outside, and maybe the separation plus Charlie's conversation would give us some privacy from Bucky. It didn't really matter if we were overheard, but girl-talk warrants some attempt at stealth, surely. It's sacred.

"So, you're dating an Avenger," was the opening line.

In snorted. "I guess. I don't really see it that way."

"How do you see it?" she asked with a crinkled brow.

"He's just Bucky before all that Avenging stuff. Like yeah, it's a part of him and I love it because of that, but those aren't the things that I first think of when I look at him. Does that make sense? Like with Steve. At first you might be like 'Oh, my God, it's Captain America!' but then he says something dumb or does something funny and it's just Steve, a nice guy who could also bench-press a house, probably. Know what I mean?" I really wanted her to understand. I needed her to be able to accept him for the person he was rather than a reputation.

"So he's here to stay?" she asked, eyeing me. She'd staying impassive while I had animatedly attempted to explain my viewpoint, but now we were getting to the crux of it.

"Well, yeah. I mean, he probably can't be here 24/7, but… yeah," I smiled dopily.

A grin slowly took over her face. "Then I'm so happy for you," she said earnestly, grabbing me in a tight hug. "Has he kissed you?"

I blushed, glad she couldn't see my face due to our embrace. "Yes."

She pushed me back and gazed at my expression shrewdly. Her eyes went wide. "Oh, my God, were having sex while I was on the phone with you?" she cried.

"What? No! Why would you think that?" I yelped, although she was all that far off base.

"Don't give me that, your face says he did a whole lot more than kiss you. Lily, oh my, God! No wonder you kept talking about finishing," she shouted with too little concern for her neighbours.

"We were in the kitchen, I swear. And shh! I promise you I was fully clothed. So was he," I implored, making calming motions with my hands while my face burnt.

"Lily, you were making noises," she giggled, still looking scandalised. "Good for you though. Is he as good as you dreamt?"

"Laura! What the hell?"

"At _kissing_ , whatever."

"I'm going back inside. I came here because I was promised food."

"Is that a no?" she laughed, following me as I stormed back into the house as dramatically as my slight limp allowed.

I wasn't really mad, though. She was happy for me, and as we reached the kitchen where Bucky gently bounced the baby while laughing at something Charlie had said, I was so happy too.


End file.
